Definition
Extra-EU trade is the exchange of goods between a European Union country and countries that do not belong to it. It is the trade that goes through customs: trade between Member States, or intra-EU trade, moves without customs controls.
The distinction matters for statistics. For extra-EU trade, the customs declaration records the mode of transport by which the goods cross the Union’s external border: sea, road, air, rail or pipeline. For intra-EU trade that detail does not exist with the same quality.
That is why the modal split published by Eurostat refers to extra-EU trade. In it, maritime transport carries most of the tonnes and a smaller proportion of the value, because the most expensive and urgent goods travel by air.
The figure · July 2026
Maritime share of extra-EU trade (value) · July 2026
69.1%
Value carried by sea in the month
€22,326 million
Maritime share by weight
85.9%
Tonnes by sea in the month
17.2 million tonnes
Maritime share of Spain’s foreign trade in 2026
69.1% of the value of what Spain bought from and sold to countries outside the European Union in July 2026 travelled by sea; by weight, the maritime share was 85.9%. Extra-EU seaborne trade totalled €22,326 million in the month, 5.6% more than a year earlier, with 17.2 million tonnes.
The full ranking, the trend and the table are in the indicator Maritime share of Spain’s foreign trade. To explore the data in detail, see Trade and Transport.